Can AI Choose Better Candidates than You?

Amidst the claims that AI will decimate the workforce, there's a growing number of companies that are using artificial intelligence to sophisticate or streamline their offering. But it’s possible solutions for recruitment is something that most businesses are yet to explore.

One of the biggest struggles in HR is finding the best talent and offering what they need to encourage them to work for your company. This doesn't just rely on identifying candidates with the right qualifications or even experience, but it's also about finding people that will align with your culture and hit the ground running with their team.

With the potential costs of recruiting and even onboarding staff that aren't right for your business, could artificial intelligence be a cost-effective solution for companies?

How can AI help find candidates?

Artificial intelligence can be used to fill roles in niche industries, where there may only be a handful of candidates in the country that could do the job without support. Profile augmentation can help filter LinkedIn profiles or CV sites for people who may have interests or skills in a particular area, even if this has never been their job title. This prevents you missing the ideal candidate because they don't have the specific keyword or phrase in their description.

Be more personalized

You can also make your first contact much more personalized without having to dedicate hours and hours of time. There's already been a notable shift in recruitment because of the way employees' attitudes have changed. AI can help you deliver a job offer that reflects the specific needs and demands of a candidate who is not just interested in the salary on offer. More employees want an employer who can understand their unique ambitions and help them achieve them - this can all be done with AI recruitment.

The first step towards this is having employee value propositions (EVP) that organically resonate with the candidates they are sent to. Instead of having one or two generic ones that are sent out to everyone, regardless of their age, experience or interests, companies could use AI to send out personalized EVPs to each individual candidate persona identified.

Targeted advertising

Another potential solution would be programmatic advertising, which is already being used by marketing departments but hasn't yet been picked up by recruiters. It allows companies to deliver ads that are highly personalized to the people they're targeting and ensures they see them at the right time.

Chatbots

Chatbots, which are the first step for many businesses into the world of AI, can also be used in recruiting to ask or answer candidate-facing questions. Basic queries such as 'when is the closing date' or 'has my CV been received?' can be resolved by a chatbot at any time.

So will I lose my job to a robot?

Przemek Berendt, Vice President of Global Marketing at technology service provider Luxoft, says AI will reshape talent acquisition but not in a way that eradicates people from recruitment. As with many business solutions that are driven by artificial intelligence, it will be used by HR to streamline the process, with professionals being able to use the technology to vet the wrong candidates and highlight the best-suited ones.

From removing unconscious bias when sifting through CVs to better targeting job adverts in the first place, AI could choose better candidates, allowing HR professionals to use their talents and skills to take these applicants to the next stage.